Regional digest

WORCESTER -- Three 14-year-old Sullivan Middle School students were arrested at school yesterday for allegedly breaking into lockers.

Each was charged with breaking and entering in the daytime with intent to commit a felony and possession of a burglar’s tool. Their names were not disclosed because they are juveniles.

The three boys were arrested after several cell phones, an MP3 player, a Nintendo Game Boy, and other items began disappearing from student lockers last week, according to Sgt. James P. Ferraro. A teacher with a free period noticed two of the boys at a locker yesterday, one with his hands in a black bag in the locker inside the school at 140 Apricot St., he said.

Sgt. Ferraro gave this account: When the teacher confronted them, one walked calmly to his classroom and the other told her that it was his locker. However, the lockers in that area are for Goddard cluster students only and the youth is not part of that cluster.

Another faculty member identified the student, and a third student was connected to the thefts. The third student said that he had found a master key on the floor and used it to enter lockers.

The key was taken a week ago, and that’s when items began disappearing.

Patrolman Armando Garcia, a school liaison officer in the police Community Services division, made the arrest after police were summoned at 1 p.m.

BARRE — The identity of a man rescued from Cook’s Canyon Monday is being withheld by police citing a request from his family.

The 37-year-old man from Worcester was the subject of a search that lasted about three hours in the canyon, which is laden with hiking trails, including some traversing steep, dangerous areas. Police were alerted by a family member who was concerned after receiving a telephone call from the man, who was found shortly after 9 p.m. on a high ledge atop a hill he had climbed.

Officers described the man as lethargic and said last night he is an avid hiker who may have been stricken while he was in the canyon, which is a 60-acre Mass. Audubon facility. Police said last night the man was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Worcester. They were unsure of his condition.

UXBRIDGE — State and local police responded to a two-car accident early yesterday morning on Route 146.

The crash was reported at 6:40 a.m. on Route 146 southbound. According to a preliminary report from the state police, the collision involved a 2005 green Toyota Camry driven by Dianne Stankus, 57, of Oxford, and a 2007 Dodge Magnum driven by 49-year-old David Fulgham of Worcester.

One person was taken by Uxbridge ambulance to a local hospital. It appears that the drivers were alone in their vehicles at the time of the crash. The scene was cleared at 7:43 a.m.

LEOMINSTER — Cash bail was set at $50,000 Monday for a Bronx man accused of cocaine trafficking and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, according to District Court records.

Leominster Police Officer Joseph L. Siciliano Jr. said he was working with members of the North Worcester County Drug Task Force when, with search warrants, they searched a grayish-blue Chrysler Sebring being driven by Mr. Castillo, according to a report by Officer Siciliano, who serves as a detective.

The car was on upper West Street heading toward Lindell Avenue at the time, the report said.

During a search of the car, a police dog scratched the steering wheel several times, the report said.

Police found bags of cocaine and cash in the steering wheel, the report said. More than 80 grams of cocaine in packaging were allegedly seized along with $775 cash.

District Court Judge John J. Curran Jr. said his reasons for ordering bail included the serious nature of the offense, the defendant’s lack of roots in the community, a previous trafficking charge against the defendant that was dismissed, and the prosecutor’s allegation that the defendant has an out-of-state record in New York and Florida.

NORTHBRIDGE — An employee of the China Pacific Restaurant was arrested yesterday and police issued warrants for two others in connection with the robbery of cash and lottery tickets from the restaurant during the early morning of Oct. 20.

Jun X. Peng, 19, of 35 Winthrop Ave., Apt. 2, Quincy, was charged with being an accessory before the fact.

Police said Mr. Peng was identified through a store surveillance videotape in the South Shore area while attempting to cash the lottery tickets. He was later identified as a China Pacific employee.

The others — an unidentified juvenile and an unidentified man — allegedly broke into the restaurant at Route 122 and Linwood Avenue through the front door early on Oct. 20. After they got into the restaurant, the two suspects stole cash and a substantial amount of state lottery tickets.

Subsequently, investigators received information that led to the arrest warrants for the juvenile and man. Both will be charged with breaking and entering nighttime (felony), larceny and breaking and entering depository.